It was 10:48 p.m. and the party was still going strong at the house of Marcia Hooks in Erie, Pa.

Thirty or so people came to her house to watch the NBA Draft to see her relative – Tony Wroten Jr. – get drafted. The Memphis Grizzlies used the 25th pick in tonight’s draft to pick Wroten Jr., who Hooks said is related to her.

“We jumped for joy,” Hooks said on the phone with the sound of people having fun in the background. “Jumping for joy. They’re still having a grand time.”

Hooks, 55, said Wroten Jr’s great grandfather and her mom were brother and sister. Hooks said she hadn’t talk to Wroten Jr. yet about the draft, but planned to call her mom, Shirley, later.

“I was trying to give her a chance to get all her calls in because I figure everyone else was trying to give her a call,” Hooks said.

Charlotte Bobcats' D.J. Augustin is an emerging star PG in the NBA./AP Photo

With the NBA in lockout mode, it may be easy to forget how the 2010-11 season reestablished the league as one of the best in pro sp0rts.

While the owners and players try to work things out, here’s a look at my five favorite players who I consider to be under the radar. They can play.

Just aren’t on TV enough for people to notice or they’re playing for bad teams or they’re part of a team that’s a playoff contender or they’re one of many who excel at the same position (Hint! Hint!).

Now I tried to avoid guys who have made the all-star team. That kept hem from including Al Hortford. Guy is an very good player, but teammates Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and even Jamal Crawford get more pub than him in Atlanta.

I could have put guys like Houston Rockets forward Luis Scola on there, but people talk so much about how underrated he is, we all know who is he now.

In closing, I really wanted to put Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young on the list, but I want to see how he does with coach Doug Collins for another season. I love Young’s game.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will likely draft Duke freshman Kyrie Irving in Thursday’s NBA Draft. ESPN is reporting that the Cavs are committed to doing so.

I understand the reasoning.

It’s a PG league.

Point guards are needed because a lot of the better teams have quality ones. Chicago has 2010-11 NBA MVP Derrick Rose. Oklahoma City has Russell Westbrook. Memphis has Mike Conley. Boston has Rajon Rondo. New Orleans has Chris Paul.

If Oklahoma City can't find an answer for Memphis PF Zach Randolph, it will fall to the eighth-seeded Grizzlies in Sunday's Game 7./AP Photo

1-2 so far. Not good.

Chicago over Atlanta is the only conference semifinal prediction I’ve gotten right in this year’s NBA Playoffs.

Picked Boston in six games. The Celtics lost in five to the Miami Heat.

Picked the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. The two-time defending NBA champions were swept by the Dallas Mavericks.

I could see the Miami one, coming because age was going to catch Boston sooner or later, but Dallas sweeping the Lakers? The only people who picked that besides Charles Barkley (He’s been on during these playoffs) are Dallas owner Mark Cuban and his closest family members.

Everyone else went with the Lakers.

Now I picked Oklahoma City to take down Memphis in six games, but we’re going to have a deciding Game 7 today to determine who will face the Mavericks in the Western Conference finals.

Can’t see Kevin Durant having two bad games in a row so I’m pretty confident in my Thunder pick, but Memphis won’t go down easily. Got too many tough guys. The Grizzlies are more than capable of winning today.

He's in a new uniform, but same foe awaits LeBron James in the NBA playoffs - the Boston Celtics./Photo by AP.

Goodbye Shield. Welcome back logo.

With the NFL Draft ending today, let’s talk NBA Playoffs.

The first round was good. Correction. It was great.

The Memphis Grizzlies stunned everyone except Charles Barkley in beating the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in six games, the Boston Celtics posted the only sweep in a first-round series and Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Kevin Durant has been the best player in the playoffs so far.

Now the conference semifinals are here. We’ve got the match up everyone wants (Miami Heat vs. the Celtics), the one we didn’t expect (Grizzlies vs. Thunder), the one that will end quickly (Atlanta Hawks vs. the Bulls) and the one that will last longer than it should (Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Dallas Mavericks).

Here are five points I want to make about the Cavaliers’ 102-90 win against the Miami Heat at Quicken Loans Arena.

1. Great crowd. Great crowd. Great crowd. Cavs fans can still bring it.

2. Three to four years ago, I wrote Chris Bosh was overrated. Then he went out and proved me wrong, but after watching tonight’s game, maybe I wasn’t wrong after all. He played softer than diapers against Cleveland and got punked by Ryan Hollins. Shot 5-of-14 from the field. had just 10 points, only four rebounds and if I was playing the Heat, I’d go at him every time.

Here’s what LeBron James had to say before tonight’s game between the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena.

This is the second time James has played in Cleveland for the Heat since he decided to leave the Cavaliers last summer to play in Miami. The Heat beat the Cavaliers, 118-90, Dec. 2 and James had 38 points, eight assists and five rebounds.